Romanian festivities

On Saturday and Sunday this weekend, I reconnected with my Romanian roots by attending the festivities of the 100th anniversary celebration of St. Mary's Romanian Orthodox Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I can't say with certainty whether our Romanian ancestor, Ilie Moisescu, attended this church, but I think he must have. His family lived in a house at 1031 Farrington Street (the Rice Street area) around 1918, so they must have attended St. Mary's Church, less than a mile away, built in 1913. At any rate, the 100th anniversary is an important event and one not to be missed, so my trusty Romanian genealogy sidekick Dorrene and I were there!
 
Romanians know how to party, so don't think you can just show up for an hour or two. Plan for an evening, or a daylong activity. Saturday night was a banquet and dance for several hundred people at St. Katherine's Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Arden Hills; the Sunday afternoon banquet (with somewhat fewer attendees) was held at the church hall. My favorite parts of the weekend celebrations were the PowerPoint presentation on the history of the parish, developed by Father Mircea Vasiu (he did an excellent job!), and the music and dancing. Besides the wonderful Izvorasul Romanian folk dancers led by John Omorean, there was musical entertainment by an orchestra from Chicago on Saturday night.
 
And the food! Sunday's banquet was amazing. While we waited for everyone who came from the church to be seated, we were served baskets of bread. The servers were running back and forth between the downstairs kitchen and the tables upstairs, carrying their their serving trays and food. (Who knows what mayhem went on in the kitchen down below.) We quickly ate all the bread, and someone at our table asked for more. Bread was soon on its way, along with buttery yellow potatoes with parsley. Then the servers - all volunteers from the church - brought sarmale (cabbage rolls), and they were delicious! The cabbage leaves were soured just slightly, and wrapped around tender pork and rice. On top was savory sauerkraut and chunks of partially-rendered bacon fat. I am telling you, this stuff was good! No sooner than we finished we heard the cry, “We haven’t got any meat!” from one of our fellow diners. In a few minutes we were passing around several platters of very moist roast pork loin containing lots of garlic and mushrooms, and served with “mushroom sauce,” which was really a rich gravy. (Calling it “sauce” makes it seem so much healthier, you know.)
 
In case anyone was lacking protein, a while later we were served platters of baked chicken. The dishes were passed around again, and again. When practically nothing was left, the dessert platters were delivered. Immediately, hands grabbed for the choicest treats. Apricot-filled and powdered-sugared cornulete pastries, flaky baklava, walnut-filled breads, cream puffs, and all sorts of chocolate treats were piled high on paper plates, but quickly devoured.
 
After we had eaten all we could, and then some, it was time for the presentations. The time really flew by, and we were all surprised when the clock showed four o'clock.

Afterwards, we were privileged to be part of a group who were invited to present to the Romanian Consul General from Chicago about the work of our organizations. Dorrene and I were able to talk about the goals of Romanian Genealogy Society, and we hope we made a good impression.